diff --git a/lib/path.js b/lib/path.js
index 43461cdc1c4..c5313e9bade 100644
--- a/lib/path.js
+++ b/lib/path.js
@@ -1,40 +1,33 @@
-function validPathPart(p, keepBlanks) {
-  return typeof p === 'string' && (p || keepBlanks);
+function validPathPart(p) {
+  return typeof p === 'string' && p;
 }
 
 
 exports.join = function() {
   var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
-  // edge case flag to switch into url-resolve-mode
-  var keepBlanks = false;
-  if (args[args.length - 1] === true) {
-    keepBlanks = args.pop();
-  }
-  // return exports.split(args.join("/"), keepBlanks).join("/");
-  var joined = exports.normalizeArray(args, keepBlanks).join('/');
-  return joined;
+  return exports.normalizeArray(args).join('/');
 };
 
 
-exports.split = function(path, keepBlanks) {
+exports.split = function(path) {
   // split based on / and \, but only if that / is not at the start or end.
-  return exports.normalizeArray(path.split(/^|[\\\/](?!$)/), keepBlanks);
+  return exports.normalizeArray(path.split(/^|[\\\/](?!$)/));
 };
 
 
-function cleanArray(parts, keepBlanks) {
+function cleanArray(parts) {
   var i = 0;
   var l = parts.length - 1;
   var stripped = false;
 
   // strip leading empty args
-  while (i < l && !validPathPart(parts[i], keepBlanks)) {
+  while (i < l && !validPathPart(parts[i])) {
     stripped = true;
     i++;
   }
 
   // strip tailing empty args
-  while (l >= i && !validPathPart(parts[l], keepBlanks)) {
+  while (l >= i && !validPathPart(parts[l])) {
     stripped = true;
     l--;
   }
@@ -44,14 +37,14 @@ function cleanArray(parts, keepBlanks) {
     parts = Array.prototype.slice.call(parts, i, l + 1);
   }
 
-  return parts.filter(function(p) { return validPathPart(p, keepBlanks) })
+  return parts.filter(function(p) { return validPathPart(p) })
               .join('/')
               .split(/^|[\\\/](?!$)/);
 }
 
 
-exports.normalizeArray = function(original, keepBlanks) {
-  var parts = cleanArray(original, keepBlanks);
+exports.normalizeArray = function(original) {
+  var parts = cleanArray(original);
   if (!parts.length || (parts.length === 1 && !parts[0])) return ['.'];
 
   // now we're fully ready to rock.
@@ -69,7 +62,7 @@ exports.normalizeArray = function(original, keepBlanks) {
     var directory = parts[i];
 
     // if it's blank, and we're not keeping blanks, then skip it.
-    if (directory === '' && !keepBlanks) continue;
+    if (directory === '') continue;
 
     // if it's a dot, then skip it
     if (directory === '.' && (directories.length ||
@@ -106,8 +99,8 @@ exports.normalizeArray = function(original, keepBlanks) {
 };
 
 
-exports.normalize = function(path, keepBlanks) {
-  return exports.join(path, keepBlanks || false);
+exports.normalize = function(path) {
+  return exports.join(path);
 };
 
 
diff --git a/test/simple/test-path.js b/test/simple/test-path.js
index 5a9b936ba70..9fc50ad590a 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-path.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-path.js
@@ -82,13 +82,6 @@ var joinTests =
      [[' ', '.'], ' '],
      [[' ', '/'], ' /'],
      [[' ', ''], ' '],
-     // preserving empty path parts, for url resolution case
-     // pass boolean true as LAST argument.
-     [['', '', true], '/'],
-     [['foo', '', true], 'foo/'],
-     [['foo', '', 'bar', true], 'foo//bar'],
-     [['foo/', '', 'bar', true], 'foo///bar'],
-     [['', true], '.'],
      // filtration of non-strings.
      [['x', true, 7, 'y', null, {}], 'x/y']
     ];
@@ -106,20 +99,11 @@ assert.equal(failures.length, 0, failures.join(''));
 
 assert.equal(path.normalize('./fixtures///b/../b/c.js'),
              'fixtures/b/c.js');
-assert.equal(path.normalize('./fixtures///b/../b/c.js', true),
-             'fixtures///b/c.js');
 assert.equal(path.normalize('/foo/../../../bar'), '/bar');
 
 assert.deepEqual(path.normalizeArray(['fixtures', 'b', '', '..', 'b', 'c.js']),
                  ['fixtures', 'b', 'c.js']);
-assert.deepEqual(path.normalizeArray(['fixtures', '', 'b', '..', 'b', 'c.js'],
-                                     true), ['fixtures', '', 'b', 'c.js']);
 
-assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//../b', true), 'a//b/b');
 assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//../b'), 'a/b');
-
-assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//./c', true), 'a//b//c');
 assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//./c'), 'a/b/c');
-assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//.', true), 'a//b/');
 assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//.'), 'a/b');
-